Dalia Silberstein

Dalia is a nurse developmental specialist and NIDCAP Trainer at the Meir Medical Center NICU in Kfar-Saba, Israel, where she has worked for almost 25 years. From her beginnings as a novice neonatal nurse, Dalia had a special interest in the emergence of the parent-infant relationship, and the factors that challenge, promote and shape this relationship in the complex medical setting of the NICU. Alongside with her clinical work at the NICU, Dalia pursued her NIDCAP training and later on her doctoral education. In her doctoral dissertation, she investigated the links between preterm infant’s feeding behavior and the mother-infant relationship across the first year of life. Dalia pioneered the implementation of NIDCAP in Israel, actively teaching and expanding this model of care among NICU professionals across her country. Since 2018, Dalia co-directs the Israel NIDCAP Training Center. Her core belief is that magic happens at the very bedside, where the professional caregiver can engage in a special nurturing and knowledge-based relationship that can shape both the infant’s and the family’s experience in the NICU.